Enhanced system and method for providing a virtual space

ABSTRACT

A system and method for providing a virtual space determines a representation of the virtual space based on information defining a personality of a character within the virtual space and/or information indicating a user&#39;s personality. The system and method may also determine the information defining the character&#39;s personality based on information regarding the user and/or information regarding the character. In some examples, the system and method may further determine information to facilitate a development of the user based on the information describing the user&#39;s personality. The system and method may also determine the user&#39;s personality based on information indicating user&#39;s personality. In some examples, the user&#39;s personality may be determined based on user&#39;s experiences within the virtual space. In some other examples, the user&#39;s personality may be determined based on information regarding the user that is acquired from sources external to the virtual space.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/055,444, entitled “ENHANCED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDINGA VIRTUAL SPACE,” filed Feb. 26, 2016, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/725,390, entitled “ENHANCED SYSTEM ANDMETHOD FOR PROVIDING A VIRTUAL SPACE,” filed Dec. 21, 2012, the contentsof which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to providing a virtual space based on personalityof one or more characters in the virtual space and/or personality of auser of the virtual space.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A virtual space may comprise a simulated space (e.g., a physical space)instanced on a computing device, such as a server, desktop computer,laptop computer or handheld device. The virtual space may have one ormore characters. Some characters may be associated with one or moreusers of the virtual space. Such characters may be controlled by theassociated users (e.g., avatars). The virtual space may also havetopography (2D or 3D), expressing ongoing real-time interaction by auser, and/or include one or more objects positioned with the topography.The topography may include dimensions of the virtual space, and/orsurface features of a surface or objects that are “native” to thevirtual space. In some instances, the topography may describe a volumewith one or more bodies positioned therein. For example, picture avirtual space that simulates an underground dungeon having a humanprotagonist, dark walls, obnoxious monsters, unexpected obstacles andetc. A user controlled character, or avatar is typically subject touser's control commands (e.g., user directed commands instructinghis/her avatar to move around in the virtual space). A virtual space mayalso comprise characters not associated with any user (e.g., a charactergenerated and controlled by artificial intelligence (hereinafter “AIcharacter”).

Characters, topography, objects within a virtual space may be presentedvisually through different display techniques, such as modeling,skinning, texturing, lighting, and/or other suitable display techniques.They may also be presented by accompanying audio, such as voices, soundeffects, game narrations, and/or other suitable audio presentationmethods. Accordingly, an instance of a virtual space (i.e., the virtualspace at a particular moment) may be provided by presenting characters,topography and objects through graphics and/or audio in ways to reflectwhatever the state they may be in at that moment to form the virtualspace. The characters and objects may be presented based on past eventsand activities that have transpired within the virtual space in previousinstances. As an improvement, some virtual spaces are providedadaptively such that characters and objects are presented in the virtualspaces based on certain evolving traits of characters and objects. Forexample, a character may be displayed within a virtual space havingtextures that reflect a growing age of the character - the character maybe displayed with features of a younger person at early stages of avideo game and with features of an older person at later stages of thegame. However, in the aforementioned virtual spaces, the character'spersonality does not evolve and neither does the character evolve basedon changes in the character's and/or user's personality. As a result,the user's interaction and level of engagement in the virtual space candecrease as the user may feel somehow detached from the virtual space.

SUMMARY

One aspect of the disclosure relates to determining a representation ofa virtual space based on information defining a personality of acharacter within the virtual space. As described above, within a virtualspace, different types of characters based on how they are controlledmay exist. For example, an avatar is a type of character that may becontrolled by an associated user to represent the user in the virtualspace. AI characters, on the other end, may be controlled byintelligence that is configured into the virtual space, such as computerprograms. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize any othertypes of characters that may exist in a virtual space. In any case, acharacter's personality may be determined based on activities, events,missions and etc. the character has participated in within the virtualspace. The personality of the character may also be determined based oninformation regarding a user. In some examples, the character'spersonality may be determined in ways that are not controlled orpredicted by the user. In some other examples, the character'spersonality may be determined by adopting the user's personality,skills, preferences and/or other information regarding the user. In someimplementations, the character's personality may be determined toprovide therapeutic impact to the user or to act as a complement to theuser's personality to increase their emotional connection to thecharacter and their engagement in the game, or facilitate theirdevelopment. This may include determining a character's personality tocause growth, self-understanding, empathy, increased assertiveness,improved ability to relate to others, decreases in symptomatology suchas anxiety or low mood, and/or to provide other therapeutic impacts. Thepersonality of the character may also be customized by the user (e.g.,by adjusting a set of traits reflecting the character's personality suchas enthusiasm, compassion, toughness, tone of voice, and/or othersuitable traits of the character that may reflect the character'spersonality). These adjustments could also be made simply to increasethe user's interest level in the game, or for the sole purpose ofentertainment.

Such adjustments to the character's personality may also be made throughdirect “social” interaction between the user and the character in thegame. For example, the user can indicate that their character is talkingtoo much or exhibiting too much of a certain characteristic or notenough of another (e.g., “You are being too enthusiastic.”) and thecharacter's personality would adjust accordingly (e.g., “Sony aboutthat, I just get excited sometimes. I'll try to tone it down.”).

A representation of a virtual space may be determined based on thecharacter's personality to reflect the emotion, affective feeling,persona, and/or any other suitable personality traits of the character.Such a representation of the virtual space may involve representing thecharacter visually and/or audibly in ways that reflect the character'spersonality, such as but not limited to, through the character'sexplicit speech, implicit qualities (e.g., speech style, speech patternand content, gesture, and/or other implicit qualities of the user),response style, manifested physical appearances, and/or othercharacteristics. This may enhance the user's level of engagement withthe character as the character is represented in a logical and yetunpredicted way. Changes in the character's personality may be intendedto result in a specific therapeutic impact for the user. An appropriate,or desired, therapeutic impact for the user may be determined based onone or more of a determined personality (or personality characteristic)of the user, input from a caregiver or supervisor, and/or other sources.The user may also develop a relationship with the character as the userdiscovers the personality of the character. As a result, the user'sexperience in the virtual space may be enhanced.

Another aspect of the disclosure relates to providing a virtual spacebased on the user's personality. The virtual space may be provided inways that are sensitive to user's affective or emotional state, personaetc. and thereby provide an enhanced experience to the user. As soprovided, the virtual space may also connect users with each other inthe virtual space (e.g., in real time) based on their personalities. Theuser's personality may be determined through various channels, such asbut not limited to, user's interaction with the character, user'sactivities within the virtual space, user's declared information aboutthe user's personality, input from a caregiver or supervisor, and/orother channels. The user's personality may also be determined based oninformation regarding user's personality and preference from anyavailable source external to the virtual space. Such information may beanalyzed through psychometric measurement to determine the user'spersonality. The user information that may be used to determine theuser's personality may also include information regarding the user'slearning style (e.g., a style that is most appropriate for user'slearning according to the user's personality). For example, informationregarding a learning style of the user's may be included in a user'spersonality profile to facilitate presentations of activities, events,suggestion and/or any other that information that involve education orother aspects of personal development or progress in the virtual space.A determination of representation of the virtual space based on thedetermined user's personality may involve determining a style a throughwhich a character may interact with the user, types of activities thatmay be suggested to the user to partake within the virtual space,content of narrations and prompts that may be presented to the userwithin the virtual space.

In some implementations, a system configured to provide a virtual spacebased on a personality of a character and/or the user's personalitywithin the virtual space may include one or more processors configuredto execute one or more computer program modules. The one or morecomputer program modules may include one or more of a space module, acharacter module, a user module, a user development module, and/or othermodules.

A space module may be configured to execute an instance of a virtualspace. The space module may implement the instance of the virtual spaceto facilitate participation by users within the space by determining thespace representation information from the instance and transmitting thespace representation information to client computing platformsassociated with the users or to a presentation device such as a displayor speaker. The space representation information may comprise viewinformation defining presentation of the virtual space at a particularinstance. Such view information may facilitate presentation of views ofthe virtual space through graphics, such as but not limited to, thecharacter's appearances (e.g., facial expression, attire and/or otherappearances), response style, gesture and/or other suitable graphicalinformation included in views of a virtual space. View information mayalso facilitate presentation of the space through sounds, such as butnot limited to, the character's speech content, speech pattern, speechstyle, content of narrative prompts presented to the user, and/or othersuitable sound information included in views of a virtual space. Thespace module may be further configured to determine an interactionthrough which the virtual space interacts with the user based on user'spersonality to cause growth, understanding, empathy, increasedassertiveness, and/or to provide other therapeutic impacts to the user.

A character module may be configured to determine information regardinga character within the virtual space. Such information may includeinformation defining personality of the character. As used herein,“personality” may refer to a dynamic and organized set ofcharacteristics or traits possessed an entity (e.g., a user orcharacter) that influence the manifested cognitions, motivations, andbehaviors of the entity in various situations. It will be appreciatedthat personality should not be confused with a measurement of skill,dexterity, knowledge of one or more topics, amount of participation inthe virtual space, or social status within the virtual space. Thecharacter's personality may be manifested through its physicalappearances (e.g., “choice” of attire, speech content and style (e.g.,the quality and quantity of statements made by a character, tone ofvoice, and/or other speech content and style of a character),interaction style (e.g., engaging or reserved, introvert or extravert),response style (e.g., enthusiastic reposes or lack of reposes) and/orother suitable manifested traits that may reflect the character'spersonality. In some examples, the personality of a character within thevirtual space may be determined based on information regarding a user. Apersonality of the character may be determined to provide to therapeuticimpacts to the user based on the user's personality. For example, thecharacter may provide help, suggestion, and/or hints to the user to helpthe user work through the virtual space. The character's personality mayalso be updated in response to changes in user's personality asdetermined by the user module or other modules. In some other examples,the character's personality may also be customized by the user.

The user module may be configured to manage user accounts associatedwith the individual users. User accounts may include informationindicating a user's personality. The user module may also be configuredto determine the user's personality based on user's experiences with thevirtual space. Such experiences may include activities the user hasparticipated in within the virtual space, for example, missionsparticipated in (or not participated in through avoidance and/or activerefusal), quests or tasks accepted, quests or tasks refused or avoided,purchases, sales, trades, places visited, battles participated in and/oravoided, searches performed, and/or other activities undertaken, avoidedor refueled by the user within the virtual space.

The user module may also be configured to identify the user'sinteraction with the virtual space that indicates user's personality.Such interaction may include user's interaction with the character,topography of the virtual space and/or another user, user'sself-expression, and/or other interactions. Interaction of the user withthe character may include exchanges, either verbal or text, between theuser and character (e.g., statements), user's comments toward thecharacter (e.g., user expressing “awesome” after the character completesa difficult task), user's declared information to the character and/orother interactions. Interaction of the user with the topography of thevirtual space may include, for example, types of tasks and objects theuser tend to engage within the virtual space. User's interaction withanother user may include, for example, text chat, private messages,electronic mail, voice chat, forum posts, forum topics begun, forumtopics read, non-player character conversations, content posts, contentlinked, and/or other suitable interaction between users within thevirtual space. Self-expression of the user within the virtual space mayinclude, for example, mentor selection, avatar customization, avatarattire and/or equipment created, purchased, and/or used, items and/orcontent created or modified, and/or other interactions indicatingself-expression of the user within the virtual space. The user modulemay be further configured to detect the user's interaction thatindicates the user's personality. The user module may still beconfigured to analyze information regarding the user throughpsychometric measurement to determine the user's personality. Thesetypes of user interactions may be used to learn the user's personality.

The user development module may be configured to determine informationthat facilitates a development of the user based on the user'spersonality. Such a development may be intended to improve user'sexperiences within the virtual space, user's confidence, emotionunderstanding, level of assertiveness, level of general understanding,social skills, cognitive skills, behaviors (in the virtual space and/orreal life) and/or any other appropriate personal enhancements that mightbe associated with the user in virtual space and/or in the real life.For example, if a profile of user's personality indicates that userlacks understanding of their own or other's emotions, developmentalgoals to help the user understand emotions may be determined by the userdevelopment module to cause the user to develop in this area. In someimplementations, the character module may be configured to determineinformation defining the character's personality based on the determineddevelopment information for a user. For example, the character'spersonality may be determined to be effusive and inclined to expressemotions to facilitate the user's development in emotion understanding.The space module may be further configured to determine view informationto include manifested appearances of such a character (e.g., exaggeratedfacial or physical expressions) to emphatically present the character'semotions to the user. The character module may also be configured toupdate the information defining the personality of the character inresponse to changes in the development information determined by theuser development module such that a progressive user development may beachieved.

These and other objects, features, and characteristics of the presentinvention, as well as the methods of operation and functions of therelated elements of structure and the combination of parts and economiesof manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of thefollowing description and the appended claims with reference to theaccompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification,wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in thevarious figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that thedrawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only andare not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. As usedin the specification and in the claims, the singular form of “a”, “an”,and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictatesotherwise.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments will be more readily understood in view of the followingdescription when accompanied by the below figures and wherein likereference numerals represent like elements, wherein:

FIG. 1 a block diagram illustrating one example of a system configuredto provide a virtual space based on character's personality and/oruser's personality;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram further illustrating the system for providinga virtual space as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating one example of method for providing avirtual space based on character's personality and/or user'spersonality;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a method forproviding a virtual space based on character's personality and/or user'spersonality;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating one example of a method fordetermining information defining a personality of a character;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating one example of a method fordetermining information describing a user's personality; and

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating one example of a method fordetermining information to facilitate development of the user.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a system 100 for providing a virtualspace based on a character's personality and/or a user's personality.The system 100 may determine a representation of a virtual space basedon information defining a personality of a character and/or informationindicating the user's personality. To facilitate such a determination,the system 100 may manage the information defining personality of one ormore characters and as well as the information indicating one or moreusers' personality. As such, the system 100 may provide a moreuser-friendly and engaging virtual space, which may provide therapeuticimpacts to the user, may be more enjoyable to the user, and/or provideother enhancements with respect to conventional virtual space providingsystem in which representations of a virtual space are not determinedbased on personality information regarding characters and/or userswithin the virtual space.

In some implementations, system 100 may employ a client/serverarchitecture that includes one or more of a server 102 and/or othercomponents. The server 102 may comprise electronic storage 112, one ormore processors 104, and/or other suitable components. In thoseimplementations, server 102 may also include communication lines, orports to enable the exchange of information with a network and/or othercomputing platforms. The processor 104 may be configured to executecomputer program modules. The processors 104 may be configured toexecute the computer program modules via one or more of hardware,software, and/or firmware. The computer program modules may include aspace module 106, character module 108, user module 110, a userdevelopment module 116, and/or other computer program modules. Althoughone server 102 is illustrated, it is understood that the number ofservers 102 included in system 100 may vary in some other examples. Inthose examples, the space module 106, character module 108, user module110, user development module 116 may be distributed on the same and/ordifferent servers 102. Users may interface with system 100 via clientdevice 114 through one or more electronic communication links. Forexample, such electronic communication links may be established, atleast in part, via a network such as the Internet and/or any othersuitable wired or wireless communication links in the art. In thoseembodiments, the client device 114 may include one or more processorsconfigured to execute computer program modules. The computer programmodules may be configured to enable one or more users associated withthe given client computing platform to interface with system 100, and/orprovide other functionality attributed herein to client device 114. Byway of non-limiting example, the given client computing platform 114 mayinclude one or more of a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a handheldcomputer, a NetBook, a Smartphone, and/or other computing platforms.

In some other implementations, system 100 may be, for example, a laptopcomputer, desktop computer, media center, handheld device (e.g., mobileor smart phone, tablet, etc.), gaming console, set top box, printer orany other suitable device, to name a few. In those embodiments, thesystem 100 may employ one or more computing devices 102. The computingdevice 102 may comprise one or more processors 104, operativelyconnected to one or more of electronic storage 112 via any suitablewired or wireless connection. Any other suitable structure, such as butnot limited to input devices, graphics processing unit (GPU), or memorymay also be included in the system 100 in those implementations. Inthose implementations, the client device 114 may include any suitabledisplay device. The computing device 102 may be connected to clientdisplay device 114 via a connector, such as analog display connectors,for example, composite video, S-Video, VGA, digital display connectors,for example, HDMI, mini-DVI, micro-DVI, wireless connectors or any othersuitable connectors. In those embodiments, the client device 114 mayalso include any suitable sound device, such as a speaker.

As shown in this example, the processor 104 may be a host central unit(CPU) having multiple cores however any suitable processor may beemployed including a DSP, APU, GPGPU or any other suitable processor orlogical circuitry. It is understood that although only one processor 104is illustrated in this example, the number of processor 104 may vary insome other examples. As shown in this example, the processor 104 may beconfigured to execute one or more computer program modules. The one ormore computer program modules may include one or more of the spacemodule 106, the character module 108, the user module 110, the userdevelopment module 116, and/or other computer modules.

It should be appreciated that although modules 106, 108, 110, and 116are illustrated in FIG. 1 as being co-located within a single processingunit, in implementations in which processor 104 includes multipleprocessing units, one or more of modules 106, 108,110 and/or 116 may belocated remotely from the other modules. In implementations in which aplurality of devices 102 operates in a coordinated manner to provide thefunctionality described herein with respect to processor 104, some orall of the functionality attributed to one or more of 106, 108, 110,and/or 116 may be provided by the modules executed on processors 104 ofthe plurality of devices 102. The description of the functionalityprovided by the different modules 106, 108, 110, and/or 116 describedbelow is for illustrative purposes, and is not intended to be limiting,as any of modules 106, 108, 110, and/or 116 may provide more or lessfunctionality than is described. For example, one or more of modules106, 108, 110, and/or 116 may be eliminated, and some or all of itsfunctionality may be provided by other ones of modules 106, 108, and/or110. As another example, processor 104 may be configured to execute oneor more additional modules that may perform some or all of thefunctionality attributed below to one of modules 106, 108, 110, and/or116.

The space module 106 may be configured to implement an instance of thevirtual space executed by the processor 104 to determine representationinformation defining representations of the virtual space. A virtualspace may comprise a simulated space (e.g., a physical space) instancedon a computing device and/or server (e.g., device 102) that isaccessible by a client (e.g., client device 114). The simulated spacemay include a topography, express ongoing real-time interaction by theuser, one or more AI characters, and/or one or more objects positionedwithin the topography that are capable of locomotion within thetopography. In some instances, the topography may be a 2-dimensionaltopography. In other instances, the topography may be a 3-dimensionaltopography. The topography may include dimensions of the virtual space,and/or surface features of a surface or objects that are “native” to thevirtual space. In some instances, the topography may describe a surface(e.g., a ground surface) that runs through at least a substantialportion of the virtual space. In some instances, the topography maydescribe a volume with one or more bodies positioned therein (e.g., asimulation of gravity-deprived space with one or more celestial bodiespositioned therein). A virtual space may include a virtual world, butthis is not necessarily the case. For example, a virtual space mayinclude a game space that does not include one or more of the aspectsgenerally associated with a virtual world (e.g., gravity, a landscape,etc.).

As described above, within a virtual space, different types ofcharacters based on how they are controlled may exist. For example, anavatar is a type of character that may be controlled by an associateduser to represent the user in the virtual space. AI characters, on theother end, may be controlled by intelligence that is configured into thevirtual space, such as computer programs. One of ordinary skill in theart will recognize any other types of characters that may exist in avirtual space. Avatars associated with the users may be controlled bythe users to interact with each other, with AI characters, with thetopography of the virtual space and/or other objects of the virtualspace. As used herein, the term “avatar” may refer to an object (orgroup of objects) present in the virtual space that represents anindividual user. The avatar may be controlled by the user with which itis associated. The avatars may interact with each other by physicalinteraction within the instanced virtual space, through text chat,through voice chat, and/or through other interactions. The avatarassociated with a given user may be created and/or customized by thegiven user. In some cases, the avatar may adopt a personality of theuser. However, in some other cases, the avatar may have a personalitythat is different from that of the user. As used herein, “personality”may refer to a dynamic and organized set of characteristics or traitspossessed by the character or user of virtual space and influencing thecognitions, motivations, and behaviors of the user or character invarious situations. It will be appreciated that personality should notbe confused with a measurement of skill, dexterity, knowledge of one ormore topics, amount of participation in one or more virtualenvironments, or social status within one or more virtual environments.

Unlike avatars associated with users, AI characters within a virtualspace may not be associated with any user. As such AI characters may begenerated and/or developed through artificial intelligence provided bydevice 102. AI characters may also evolve within the virtual space freefrom user's control. AI characters may interact with avatars associatedwith users, with other AI characters and as well as the topography ofthe virtual space. Certain manifested traits may be associated with AIcharacters, for example, physical appearances such as age, attire,facial expression, speech style and pattern, response style in reactionto user's interaction or other AI characters' interaction, gestureand/or any other traits. Like avatars, AI characters may also possesspersonalities of their own. A personality of an AI character may alsoinfluence the AI character's behavior, appearances, and etc. in thevirtual space.

Representation information of a virtual space may include viewinformation that facilitates graphical representation of characters(e.g., avatars or AI characters). The representation information of thevirtual space may also include sound information that facilitatesrepresenting the characters through audio. Space module 106 maydetermine a representation of virtual space by determining the viewand/or sound information about characters to reflect the characters'personality. For example, when presenting a character through speech(e.g., enabling the characters to make an explicit statement), spacemodule 106 may determine the content of the character's speech toreflect the character's personality. Such content may include expressdescription about the character's personality (e.g., “I am outgoing”, “Iam moody”, etc.), statements that implies a quality of characterimplicating the character's personality (e.g., character's exclamationof “This is awesome” or “What's next” after completing a difficult taskmay imply a level of excitability and effusiveness about the character),and/or any other suitable speech content that may implicate thecharacter's personality. Space module 106 may also determine a responsestyle a character may employ in reaction an event, interactions from auser (e.g., through an avatar). Effusive responses by the character mayreflect a caring or engaging personality of the character. On the otherhand, lack of response by the character may reflect a self-centered orindifferent personality of the character. For example, an avatar havinga self-centered personality (however, such a personality of the avatarmay not necessarily be the personality of the user associated with theavatar) may be determined to scream as a response to a user's expressionof feeling scared (e.g., the user may convey such a feeling to theavatar through a declared statement). Conversely, an avatar having anaffective personality may be determined to express empathy such as“You're Okay?” in response to the declared scared feeling of the user.In some implementations, the personality of avatar may be visuallyrepresented, for example, graphical representation of the character'semotional state using lights on arms for excitement or sadness.

Space module 106 may also determine view information about the characterto reflect the character's personality. For example, the viewinformation about the character may include the character's facialexpression, body language, style of movements, attire, and etc. Acharacter movement's strength and posture may be determined to convey alevel of confidence possessed by the character. An embarrassed look(e.g., flush cheek) or fearful look on the character's face may convey alevel of self-consciousness or anxiety possessed by the character. Thelength of such expressions of the character may also convey the depth orpersistence of the feeling that reflects the character's personality. Itis understood that the above-mentioned examples of providing a virtualspace by determining a representation of virtual space that includescharacters in ways reflecting character's personality are described forthe purposes of exemplary description only and not as limitations. Arepresentation of virtual space may include any other suitablerepresentation of a character to reflect the character's personalitywithin a virtual space and will be appreciated by those having ordinaryskills in the art.

Representation information of a virtual space may also includeinformation that facilitates the virtual space to interact with theuser. A virtual space may initiate an interaction with a user through,for example, visual and/or audio prompts including arrows suggesting tothe user that s/he should explore certain topography within the virtualspace, texts helping the user navigate the virtual space, narrative orgraphical dialogues mentoring the user to develop his/her experiences,skills, and etc. within the virtual space, dialogues providing certaininformation to the user such as cool products, places, music, moviesand/or any other suitable suggestions that the user might be interestedin real life, and/or any other suitable visual and/or audio prompts tointeract with a user in a virtual space. A virtual space may alsoinitiate an interaction with a user through a character. For example, acharacter (e.g., an avatar or AI character) may interact with the userin response to the user's actions within the virtual space. Forinstance, a character may express empathy to the user when the user isunsuccessful in completing certain tasks within the virtual space. Thecharacter may comment on the user's success or failure in achievingcertain events, goals, skill levels, obstacles and/or any otheractivities in the virtual space. The character may also mentor the userto develop within the virtual space to develop (e.g., experiences,skills, tastes, and/or other traits).

In some embodiments in accordance with the disclosure, the space module106 may be configured to determine interactions the virtual space mayhave with the user based on information indicating the user'spersonality. Such interactions may be determined to provide growth,understanding, empathy, increased assertiveness, and/or othertherapeutic impacts to the user. For example, they may include commentson user's activities, mentoring facilitating user's development,suggestions of experiences the user may engage in and/or any othersuitable mentoring. Such interactions may be provided to the user by thevirtual space through, for example, graphical dialogues, narrations,character's statements, character's movements, sound and/or visualeffects, and/or other suitable communication means between the virtualspace and user.

For example, to facilitate an interaction with the user, the spacemodule 106 may determine an interaction style through which a charactermay interact with the user. For instance, the space module 106 maydetermine the character, when interacting with the user after the usercompletes a task or skill level, to make a strong comment, such as“Great job!”, “Super, that was scary but you made it!” and the like toimprove confidence or assertiveness of the user. This may provide theuser an enjoyable and therapeutic engagement with the virtual space thatis attuned to the user's personality.

The space module 106 may also determine mentoring provided to a userbased on the user's personality and/or developmental goals customizedfor the user's development. For example, a user who engages in onlyinformation gathering or intellectual tasks within the virtual spacewill be at first gently encouraged to try some social or athletic tasks,then gradually more urgently and enthusiastically encouraged if theybegin to acquire a taste for, or respond to certain kinds ofaffectively-loaded prompts. In another example, the user's personalityprofile may be in the category of an action-oriented extrovert and theuser may thus be mentored in an enthusiastic, direct manner. In someother examples, the space module 106 may determine to push types ofmissions against the user's personality profile so to develop the userand help the user to grow the user's, for example, cognitive skills,social skills, confidence, assertiveness, and/or any other suitableskills.

The space module 106 may also determine suggestions of experiences theuser may engage in, in the virtual space or in the real life, based onthe user's personality. For example, the space module 106 may determineto suggest social events a user may engage in the virtual space if theuser's personality profile indicates the user may need growth in socialskills. In some examples, the space module 106, based on the user'spersonality, may also determine to push out suggestions about certaincommercial products, real life cultural experiences such as TV shows,movies, concerts, real life sceneries and/or any other suitable reallife activities for the user to help the user to develop his/her, forexample, cognitive skills, social skills, confidence, assertiveness,and/or any other personal enhancements in real life.

The space module 106 may be configured to provide representationalinformation to facilitate user connections within the virtual spacebased on the users' personalities. For example, suggestions may beprovided through a character within the virtual space to a user,suggesting that the user may connect with another user in the virtualspace who might share a similar personality with the user. Suchsuggestions may include information indicating how to connect with otherusers within the virtual space in real time, in real life and/or anyother suitable ways for the users to connect with each other.

The character module 108 may be configured to determine informationregarding the character that may be used by the space module 106 indetermining representation information about the virtual space asdescribed above. As described above, within a virtual space, differenttypes of characters based on how they are controlled may exist. Forexample, an avatar is a type of character that may be controlled by anassociated user to represent the user in the virtual space. AIcharacters, on the other end, may be controlled by intelligence that isconfigured into the virtual space, such as computer programs. One ofordinary skill in the art will recognize any other types of charactersthat may exist in a virtual space. In any case, information regarding acharacter may include a set of one or more traits associated with thecharacter, such as but not limited to the character's name, age, gender,size, skin color, physical features (e.g., body and/or facial), physicalabilities, skill levels, tastes, and/or any other suitable charactertraits. Information regarding the character may also include informationdefining the character's personality, which may be used by the spacemodule 106 to determine a representation of the virtual space asdescribed above. Information defining the character's personality mayalso be managed and stored in forms of personality models that includesocial, emotional, educational (e.g., knowledge), athletic dimensionsand/or any other suitable dimensions describing the character'spersonality, interactive matrixes consisting of graphical modules and/ordialog modules, and/or any other suitable form.

In some embodiments in accordance with the disclosure, the charactermodule 108 may be further configured to determine information definingpersonality of the character based on a determined personality of auser. For example, an avatar (e.g., a virtual space character that iscontrolled by a user) may adopt some of the personality of theassociated user based on information regarding the user. Informationregarding the user may include the user's skill level, preferences,tastes (e.g., user's tendencies to engage in certain type of tasks orevents in the virtual space or in the real life), historical records(e.g., events, real life events and life story information, missions,and/or tasks a user has completed in the virtual space or in the realworld), and/or any other suitable user information, relating to user'sexperience in the virtual space and/or in the real life, that may beused to determine the character's personality. In some examples, thecharacter's personality may be determined such that the character willfacilitate user's engagement, entertainment, or participation in thevirtual space, for example, by adopting the user's personality orsomeone the user might like to increase the rapport between characterand user or to amuse the user. In some other examples, the character'spersonality may be determined to cause growth, understanding, empathy,increased assertiveness, and/or to provide other therapeutic impacts tothe user.

In some implementations, the character module 108 may be furtherconfigured to update the information defining the personality of thecharacter in response to one or more changes in the user's personalityas determined by, for example, the user module 110. In thoseimplementations, as so configured, the character module 108 may enable acharacter in the virtual space to “learn” about a user and evolve thecharacter's personality based on the learned information about the user.For example, the character module 108 may update information defining apersonality of an avatar associated with a user after the useraccomplishes a mission that would have been scary, difficult and/or newfor the avatar's personality prior to the user accomplishing themission. In that example, the avatar's personality is adapted to theuser's experiences within the virtual space. This may develop theavatar's personality according to the associated user's experiences inthe virtual space. However, in another example, a character'spersonality, to the contrary, may be adapted according to the learnedinformation regarding the user such that it may provide a challenge orto cause growth, understanding, empathy, increased assertiveness, and/orto provide other therapeutic impacts to the user.

In some implementations, the character module 108 may be configured toemploy a personality of the character to develop the character. Forexample, the character's personality may be used to facilitate thecharacter's cognitive, intellectual, academic developments and/or anyother appropriate development for a character within a virtual space. Asso developed, the character may evolve in the virtual space organicallyin a logical and yet unpredicted way to the user.

In some embodiments in accordance with the disclosure, the charactermodule 108 may be further configured to determine information definingthe character's personality based on the user's selection of thecharacter's personality. For example, the character module may providedialogue modules, such as dials, bars and etc., for a user to customizepersonality of a character. The user may customize the character'spersonality to adopt some of the user's personality so that thecharacter (e.g., an avatar associated with the user) may be visuallyand/or audibly represented by the space module 106 to reflect the user'spersonality. This may be helpful in a virtual space where multiple usersengage with each other through avatars, such as but not limited to avirtual environment for social connections or multi-player game world.In some other examples, the user may also, through the character module108, customize an AI character's personality such that it may providechallenges, excitements, empathy, encouragements, and/or otherinteractions with the user and/or other characters.

The user module 110 may be configured to manage a user accountassociated with a user of the virtual space. In some implementations,the user module 110 may also be configured to determine a user'spersonality based on information regarding the user. The user'spersonality determined by the user module 110 may represent a set ofpersonality traits or characteristics included in the user'spersonality. For example, the personality traits or characteristics mayinclude one or more of the personality factors described by RaymondCattell (e.g., warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance,liveliness, rule-consciousness, social boldness, sensitivity, vigilance,abstractedness, privateness, apprehension, openness to change,self-reliance, perfectionism, tension, and/or other factors) in “Thedescription and measurement of personality”, New York: Harcourt, Brace,& Wold, 1945, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.As an example, the personality traits or characteristics may include oneor more of the dimensions in the five dimension personality modelproposed by Lewis Goldberg (e.g., openness to experience,conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and/orother personality traits) in “The structure of phenotypic personalitytraits”, American Psychologist, vol. 48, pp. 26-34, 1993, which isincorporated by reference into this disclosure in its entirety.

The user's personality determined by the user module 110 may alsorepresent a set of one or more personality archetypes present in theuser's personality. For example, the set of one or more personalityarchetypes may include the personality archetypes defined by theBriggs-Myers Personality Test. As an example, the set of one or morepersonality archetypes may include one or more personality archetypesincluded in the Enneagram of Personality (e.g., the Reformer, theHelper, the Achiever, the Individualist, the Investigator, the Loyalist,the Enthusiast, the Challenger, the Peacemaker, and/or other personalityarchetypes).

Other personality models including a set of traits, characteristics,and/or archetypes may be determined by the user module 110. For example,the user module 110 may determine a user's personality based on theChakras (e.g., Crown, Third Eye, Throat, Heart, Solar Plexus, Sacral,Base, and/or other chakras). Other examples of suitable personalitymodels that may be determined and used by the user module 110 will beappreciated by one of ordinary skill.

In some implementations, the user module 110 may be further configuredto determine the user's personality based on information indicating theuser's experiences within the virtual space. Information indicatinguser's experiences within the virtual space may include informationregarding events, tasks, missions, quests and/or other activities theuser has completed, information regarding currencies, health, skilllevels, tastes, preferences, morale and/or other objects associated withthe user in the virtual space, user declared information regarding theuser's affection state, emotion, and/or mood within the virtual space,and/or any other suitable information regarding the user's experiencesin the virtual space. For example, a user's tendency to engage inexciting and thrilling events, quests, tasks, missions, and/or otheractivities may indicate that the user's personality is in the categoryof active, outgoing and extrovert. On the other hand, the user'stendency to engage in social connections with other users within thevirtual space may indicate the user's personality is in the category ofengaging, social and extrovert. The user module 110 may acquire suchinformation regarding user's experiences within the virtual space anddetermine the user's personality.

In some embodiments in accordance with the disclosure, the user module110 may be further configured to determine a user's personality based onuser's interaction with the virtual space that indicates the user'spersonality. User's interaction with the virtual space may include theuser's explicit statements (e.g., through text or voice) to thecharacter (e.g., avatar or AI character), the user's control commandsissued to the avatar associated with the user (e.g., avoiding virtualspace topography crowded with other avatars or AI characters), theuser's selection, customization, preferences within the virtual space.For example, the user module 110 may determine the user's personalitymay be in a category of self-centered, reserved and introvert if theuser rarely responds enthusiastically to the character's encouragement,a reward for completion of difficult task or quest. The user module 110may determine that the user's personality may be socially anxious oravoidant if the user tends to instruct the avatar associated with theuser to avoid crowded area within the virtual space. The user module 110may also determine the user's personality based on the user'scustomization (e.g., of the avatar's personality).

In still some other embodiments in accordance with the disclosure, theuser module 110 may be further configured to analyze informationregarding the user using psychometric measurement to determine theuser's personality. For example, information regarding a user may beacquired by the user module 110. The user module 110 may operationalizethe information regarding the user through traditional psychometricpersonality inventories (like the MMPI, Briggs-Meyers, “projectivetests” like the Rorschach and others) and/or any other suitable means.Both traditional and non-traditional diagnostic categories anddimensions may be used to capture a user's level of social, emotional,educational, and cognitive development. In some examples, the usermodule 110 may acquire such user information through multiple avenuesvia gameplay and/or direct questionnaire, survey about interests andfeeling states to the user, in addition to input from other users, teammembers, or friends.

In yet some other embodiments in accordance with the disclosure, theuser module 110 may be further configured to determine a user'spersonality based on information indicating the user's personalityand/or preferences from a source external to the virtual space. Forexample such an “external” source may include another virtual space,websites related to the virtual space (e.g., public or private forumsfor sharing user's experience within the virtual space), social networkof Facebook™, MySpace, Twitter, microblogs, and/or any other suitablesources that may provide information indicating a user's personalityand/or preferences. Based on information indicating the user'spersonality and/or preferences from a source external to the virtualspace, the user module 110 may determine, attune, customize, and/orupdate the information indicating the user's personality within thevirtual space. In a sense, the user module 110 may import a personalityof the user from a platform external to the virtual space. This mayprovide a convenient way for a user to establish his/her personality inthe virtual space.

The user development 116 module may be configured to determineinformation that facilitates a development of the user based on theuser's personality. Such a development may be intended to improve user'sexperiences within the virtual space, user's confidence, emotionunderstanding, level of assertiveness, level of general understanding,social skills, cognitive skills, behaviors (in the virtual space and/orreal life) and/or any other appropriate personal enhancements that mightbe associated with the user in virtual space and/or in the real life.For example, the user development module 116 may determine a progressivedevelopment goal for the user to achieve based on the user'spersonality. If the user's personality profile indicates the user mayhave a shy personality, the user development module may determine thatless aggressive tasks or events for the user to participate in withinthe virtual space until the user's personality profile has grown andindicate the user is ready for more challenging tasks or events. Theremay also be direct verbal and nonverbal communications from the virtualspace or character to the user that are intended to be helpful. Forexample, such communications may be intended to ease their anxiety toallow them to progress in the virtual space or the real life.

In some examples, the user development module 116 may be configured todetermine development information for the user to provide therapeuticimpacts to the user. This may include determining a character'spersonality to cause growth, understanding, empathy, increasedassertiveness, and/or to provide other therapeutic impacts. For example,if a profile of user's personality indicates that user lacks emotionalunderstandings, developmental goals to help the user understand emotionsmay be determined by the user development module 116 to cause the userto develop in this area. In some implementations, the character module108 may be configured to determine information defining the character'spersonality based on the determined development information for theuser. In that example, accordingly, the character's personality may bedetermined to be effusive and inclined to express emotions to facilitatethe user's development in understanding their own and others' emotionallives. The space module 106 may be configured to determine viewinformation to include manifested appearances of such a character (e.g.,exaggerated facial or physical expressions), to emphatically present thecharacter's emotions to the user. In some implementations, the userdevelopment module 116 may determine the user's developments in multipleareas and/or domains and/or may organize such developments in stages.The user's developments may be assessed across all of these areas,domains, and/or stages. Based on the assessment, a determination ofcharacter style may be developed, for example, for interacting with theuser and suggesting missions to the user.

The character 108 module may also be configured to update theinformation defining the personality of the character in response tochanges in the development information determined by the userdevelopment module 116. For example, the user development module 116 maydetermine that a new development that is different from a previousdevelopment based on the user's personality determined by the usermodule 110 as described above. In response to such changes indevelopment information for the user, the character module 108 maydetermine a different personality of the character to facilitate thedevelopment of the user based on the new development informationdetermined by the user development module 116.

Electronic storage 112 may comprise electronic storage media thatelectronically stores information. The electronic storage media ofelectronic storage 112 may include one or both of system storage that isprovided integrally (i.e., substantially non-removable) with system 100and/or removable storage that is removably connectable to system 100via, for example, a port (e.g., a USB port, a FireWire port, etc.) or adrive (e.g., a disk drive, etc.). Electronic storage 112 may include oneor more of optically readable storage media (e.g., optical disks, etc.),magnetically readable storage media (e.g., magnetic tape, magnetic harddrive, floppy drive, etc.), electrical charge-based storage media (e.g.,EEPROM, RAM, etc.), solid-state storage media (e.g., flash drive, etc.),and/or other electronically readable storage media. Electronic storage112 may store software algorithms, information determined by processor104, information received from system 100, information received fromclient device 114, information, and/or other information that enablessystem 100 to function properly.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram further illustrating the system for providinga virtual space as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the user module 110 may beconfigured to acquire information regarding a user within the virtualspace. As described above, information regarding the user may includeinformation indicating user's personality, activities, traits such asskill levels, tastes, preferences, achievements, currencies, and anyother suitable information that may be acquired and managed based onuser's experiences within the virtual space. The user module 110 may beconfigured to acquire such user information from other modules of system100 (e.g., a user information gathering module, electronic storage 112,and/or any suitable input devices (not shown) such as but not limited tokeyboard, microphone, motion sensor, and/or any other suitable inputdevices). The information regarding user may also be acquired by theuser module 110 from sources external to the virtual space, such asanother virtual space, websites related to the virtual space (e.g.,public or private forums for sharing user's experience within thevirtual space), social network of Facebook™, My Space, Twitter,microblogs, and/or any other suitable sources that may provideinformation indicating a user's personality and/or preferences asdescribed above. As also shown the user module 110 may also beconfigured to receive control commands from other modules of system 100(e.g., commands to acquire information regarding a user from the usermodule 110).

As described above and shown in this example, the user module 110 may beconfigured to determine the user's personality based on informationindicating the user's personality. As shown, the information indicatinga personality of the user may be stored in electronic storage 112, suchas but not limited to in the form of personality models transcribed to afile, memory sections in electronic storage 112, etc.

Also shown in this example is the character module 108, operativelyconnected to the user module 110, the user development module 116,electronic storage 112, and space module 106 through any suitable wiredor wireless link or links. As described above, the character module 108may be configured to determine and manage information regarding thecharacter, wherein such information may comprise information definingpersonality of the character. As shown, the character module 108 may beconfigured to receive information regarding a user from electronicstorage 112 (e.g. the information transcribed to a file or memorystorage by the user module 110). The character module 108 may also beconfigured to receive information defining a personality of the userdirectly from the user module 110. As also shown in this example, thecharacter module 108 may be configured to determine and/or updateinformation defining personality of a character based on informationregarding the user as described above. For example, the character module108 may be configured to transcribe the information defining thepersonality of the character to a file or memory sections residing onelectronic storage 112.

Also shown in this example is the user development module 116,operatively connected to the user module 110, the character module 108and the space module 106. In this example, the user development module116 is configured to acquire user personality information from the usermodule 110. Based on the acquired user personality information, the userdevelopment module 116 may be further configured to determineinformation that facilitates a development of the user as describedabove. As shown, the character module 108 may be configured to receivethe user development information from the user development module 116 todetermine a personality of a character to facilitate the development ofthe user as described above. Also as shown in this example, the userdevelopment information may also be provided to space module 106 by theuser development module 116 to facilitate, for example, interactions,mentoring, prompting and/or other suitable actions provided to the userby the space module 106.

Still shown in this example is the space module 106, operativelyconnected to the user module 110, the character module 108, the userdevelopment module 116 and electronic storage 112 through any suitablewired or wireless link or links. The space module 106 may be configuredto provide a virtual space by executing an instance of the virtualspace, and implementing the instance of the virtual space to determinerepresentations of the virtual space. As shown in this example, thespace module 106 may be configured to receive information defining acharacter from the character module 108 as well as from electronicstorage 112. The space module 106 may also be configured to receiveinformation describing a user's personality from the user module 110 andelectronic storage 112. As also shown in this example, the space module106 in this example may be configured to determine a representation ofthe virtual space based on information defining a personality of acharacter within the virtual space and/or information indicating auser's personality as described above. The representation informationdetermined by the space module 106 may be sent to the client device 114or other modules of system 100 for further processing.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating one example of method for providing avirtual space based on character's personality and/or user'spersonality. It will be described with references to FIGS. 1-2. Inoperation, at block 302, the method receives a request to provide avirtual space (e.g., at the space module 106). For example, in aclient/server architecture as described above, a client device 114 mayinitiate a request to the system 100 (e.g., a server) for arepresentation of virtual space to be presented or processed on theclient device 114. In some implementations, the system 100 as shown inFIG. 1 may be a laptop, desktop, game console, and/or any other suitabledevice, and the client device 114 may be a display and/or audio systemconnected to or included in the system 100. In those implementations,other modules of the system 100 (e.g., a graphics processing module, asound processing module, etc.) may initiate the request (e.g. viacontrol commands as shown in FIG. 2), instructing the space module 106to provide representation information of the virtual space.

At block 304, in operation, the method provides a virtual space based oninformation defining personality of a character within the virtual spaceand/or the information describing a user's personality. Further detailsof one example of operation described in block 304 are described in FIG.4.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a method forproviding a virtual space based on character's personality and/or user'spersonality as shown in FIG. 3. It will be described with references toFIGS. 1-3. As shown, at block 302 in operation, the space module 106receives a request to provide a virtual space. At decision block 402, inoperation, the space module 106 determines whether there is a characterin the virtual space. In some implementations, such as but not limitedto, game worlds, virtual social spaces, and/or blog spaces, the virtualspace may comprise one or more characters as described above. In thoseimplementations, the space module 106 recognizes that there is at leastone character in the virtual space and proceeds to block 404. In someimplementations, a virtual space, such as but not limited to a virtualtraining program for pilots, drivers, astronauts, etc., may not comprisea character. In those implementations, the space module 106 recognizesthat there is no character within the virtual space and proceeds todecision block 408.

At block 404, in operation, the space module 106 acquires informationdefining a personality of the character. For example, as shown in FIG.2, the space module 106 may acquire such information via controlcommands from the character module 108. The space module 106 may alsoacquire the information defining the character from electronic storage112. At block 406, in operation, the space module 106 determines arepresentation of the virtual space based on the information defining acharacter's personality as described above and proceeds to decisionblock 408.

At decision block 408, the space module 106 determines whether there isa user within the virtual space. In some implementations, the virtualspace may not have a given user associated with the virtual space, forexample but not limited to, a virtual educational program providing avirtual class wherein there is only a character as a virtual teacher. Inthose implementations, the space module 106 recognizes the virtual spaceis not associated with any identified user and proceeds to the end ofthe processing as illustrated. In some other implementations asdescribed above, there are users associated with the virtual space(e.g., via avatars), and their information may be stored and managed bythe user module 110. In those implementations, the method recognizesthere is at least one user within the virtual space and proceeds toblock 410.

At block 410, the space module 106 acquires information indicatingpersonality of the user as described above. For example, as illustratedin FIG. 2, the space module 106 may acquire such information from theuser module 110 and/or the user development module 116 via controlcommands. The space module 106 may also acquire such information fromthe electronic storage 112. At block 412, in operation, the space module106 determines a representation of the virtual space based on theinformation indicating the user's personality as described above.

It is understood, the ordering of operations shown in FIG. 4 may vary insome other examples. For example, blocks 408, 410, 412 may be processedprior to or in parallel with the processing of blocks 402, 404 and 406.One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize any other suitableordering of operations described in FIG. 4.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating one example of a method fordetermining information defining a personality of a character. It willbe described with references to FIGS. 1-2. In operation, at block 502,the method receives a request for information defining a character'spersonality (e.g., at the character module 108). For example, such arequest may be initiated by the space module 106 when determining arepresentation for the virtual space. At decision block 504, inoperation, the character module 108 determines whether there is a userassociated with the character. As described above, some characterswithin a virtual space may be associated with users, for example,avatars. In those examples, the character module 108 recognizes thatthere is a user associated with the character and proceeds to block 506.However, some other characters, such as AI characters, may not beassociated with any users. In those examples, the character module 108proceeds to block 510.

At block 506, in operation, the character module 108 acquiresinformation regarding the associated user (e.g., from user module 110via control commands, the user development module 116, and/or from theelectronic storage 112 as shown in FIG. 2). At block 508, the charactermodule 108 updates the information defining the character's personalitybased on the information regarding the user as described above. Forexample, the character module 108 may detect a change in informationregarding the user (e.g., a new skill acquired, a new mission completed,a new taste, a newly discovered personality of the user). In response tosuch a change in information regarding the user, the character module108 may update the information defining the character's personality, ina sense that enables the character to “learn” from the user and evolvethe character's personality accordingly as described above.

At block 510, in operation, the character module 108 acquiresinformation regarding the character. Such information may includemissions completed by the character, events within the virtual spaceparticipated in by the character, skill levels of the character,physical attributes, gender, and any other suitable information that maybe associated with a character within the virtual space.

At decision block 512, in operation, the character module 108 determineswhether the user has customized a personality of the character. Asdescribed above, in some implementations, the user may customize apersonality of a character through dialogues, selection panels such asdials or bars and/or any other suitable means provided by the charactermodule 108 and/or other modules of system 100. In those implementations,at block 512, the character module 108 recognizes that there is a usercustomization of the character's personality and proceeds to block 514to acquire the user's customization of the character's personality. Insome other implementations, the character module 108 recognizes thatsuch a user's customization does not exist, and proceeds to block 516.At block 516, the character module 108 determines information definingpersonality of the character, for example, based on the informationregarding the user, information regarding the character, and/orcustomization made by the user as described above.

It is also understood that the ordering of operations described in FIG.5 may vary in some other examples. For example, blocks 512 and 514 maybe processed prior to blocks 504 -510, and block 510 may be processed inparallel with blocks 506, 508. One of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize any other suitable ordering of operations described in FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating one example of a method fordetermining information describing a user's personality. It will bedescribed with references to FIGS. 1-2. As shown, at block 602, inoperation, the method acquires information regarding a user (e.g., atthe user module 110). As described above, information regarding the usermay include information indicating the user's personality, activities,traits such as skill levels, tastes, preferences, achievements,currencies, and any other suitable information that may be gathered andmanaged based on user's experiences within the virtual space. Theinformation regarding user may also be acquired by the user module 110from sources external to the virtual space, such as another virtualspace, websites related to the virtual space (e.g., public or privateforums for sharing user's experience within the virtual space), socialnetwork of Facebook™, MySpace, Twitter, microblogs, and/or any othersuitable sources that may provide information indicating a user'spersonality and/or preferences as described above.

At decision block 604, in operation, the user module 110 determineswhether the information regarding the user indicates the user'sexperiences in the virtual space. In some examples, the user module 110recognizes that the information regarding the user indicates the user'sexperiences in the virtual space and proceeds to block 606. In someother examples, the user module 110 recognizes that the informationregarding the user does not indicate the user's experiences in thevirtual space and proceeds to block 608.

At block 606, the user module 110 identifies the user's interaction withthe virtual space that may indicate the user's personality as describedabove. For example, the user module 110 may identify the user'sinteraction with the avatar associated with user, such as but notlimited to, after the avatar completes a difficult task under thecontrol of the user, which may indicate certain personality traits ofthe user. At block 608, the user module 110 analyzes such informationthrough psychometric measurement. At block 610, the user module 110determines information indicating the user's personality (e.g. in theforms of personality models transcribed to a file or memory sectionsresiding on electronic storage 112).

It is still understood, the ordering of operations described in FIG. 6may vary in some other examples. One of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize any other suitable ordering of operations describe in FIG. 6.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating one example of a method fordetermining information that facilitates a development of a user. Itwill be described with references to FIGS. 1-2. At block 702, the methodacquires information indicating a user's personality (e.g., at the userdevelopment module 116 from the user module 110 via control commands asshown in FIG. 2). At block 704, in operation, the user developmentmodule 116 may analyze the information based on predetermineddevelopment prototypes. For example, a social skill prototype might bepredetermined by an administrator, a supervisor of the user, a caregiverof the user, and/or any other suitable entity that may determine such aprototype. The social skill prototype may be configured to includedevelopmental milestones, goals, stages, measurements and/or any othersuitable parameters to develop social skills. Based on such a prototype,the user development module 116 may be configured to analyze, forexample, a development stage or milestone associated with the user'spersonality profile, for example as determined by the user module 110.At block 706, in operation, based such an analysis, the user developmentmodule 116 determines information to facilitate a development for theuser. This may include information that causes the user to develop intothe next stage, milestone, goal and/or any other suitable measurementsaccording to the developmental prototype.

Although the invention has been described in detail for the purpose ofillustration based on what is currently considered to be the mostpractical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that suchdetail is solely for that purpose and that the invention is not limitedto the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to covermodifications and equivalent arrangements that are within the spirit andscope of the appended claims. For example, it is to be understood thatthe present invention contemplates that, to the extent possible, one ormore features of any embodiment can be combined with one or morefeatures of any other embodiment.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for configuring a virtual character,comprising: determining, on a processor, a first personality associatedwith a user; determining, on the processor, a second personalityassociated with a virtual character configured to engage in one or moreinteractive exchanges with the user, wherein the second personalityassociated with the virtual character is determined based at least inpart on the first personality associated with the user, the secondpersonality being different than the first personality and wherein thevirtual character is not a virtual representation of the user; andconfiguring, on the processor, the virtual character to engage in theone or more interactive exchanges with the user in accordance with thesecond personality such that the second personality at least partiallyinfluences one or more manifested behaviors of the virtual characterduring the one or more interactive exchanges, wherein the one or moremanifested behaviors are controlled by the virtual character and areresponsive to input from the user in the one or more interactiveexchanges.
 2. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the virtualcharacter is configured to behave in a manner that explicitly conveysthe second personality associated with the virtual character during theone or more interactive exchanges.
 3. The method recited in claim 1,wherein the virtual character is configured to behave in a manner thatimplicitly conveys the second personality associated with the virtualcharacter during the one or more interactive exchanges.
 4. The methodrecited in claim 1, further comprising: receiving, during the one ormore interactive exchanges, input from the user indicating an emotionalresponse to the one or more manifested behaviors of the virtualcharacter during the one or more interactive exchanges; and adjustingthe second personality associated with the virtual character accordingto the indicated emotional response.
 5. The method recited in claim 1,wherein the second personality further influences one or more of avisual representation or an audible representation of the virtualcharacter during the one or more interactive exchanges.
 6. The methodrecited in claim 1, wherein the virtual character acts as a mentor or atherapist to the user during the one or more interactive exchanges. 7.The method recited in claim 1, wherein the second personality associatedwith the virtual character is determined to complement the firstpersonality associated with the user.
 8. The method recited in claim 1,wherein the second personality associated with the virtual character isdetermined to entertain the user.
 9. The method recited in claim 1,wherein the virtual character is an avatar that is controlled by theuser in a virtual space.
 10. The method recited in claim 1, wherein thevirtual character is an artificial intelligence character controlled byone or more computer programs.
 11. A system for configuring a virtualcharacter, comprising: electronic storage configured to storeinformation related to a first personality associated with a user; and aprocessor coupled to the electronic storage and configured to: determinea second personality associated with a virtual character configured toengage in one or more interactive exchanges with the user based at leastin part on the first personality associated with the user, the secondpersonality being different than the first personality and wherein thevirtual character is not a virtual representation of the user; andconfigure the virtual character to engage in the one or more interactiveexchanges with the user in accordance with the second personality suchthat the second personality at least partially influences one or moremanifested behaviors of the virtual character during the one or moreinteractive exchanges, wherein the one or more manifested behaviors arecontrolled by the virtual character and are responsive to input from theuser in the one or more interactive exchanges.
 12. The system recited inclaim 11, wherein the virtual character is configured to behave in amanner that explicitly conveys the second personality associated withthe virtual character during the one or more interactive exchanges. 13.The system recited in claim 11, wherein the virtual character isconfigured to behave in a manner that implicitly conveys the secondpersonality associated with the virtual character during the one or moreinteractive exchanges.
 14. The system recited in claim 11, wherein theprocessor is further configured to: receive, during the one or moreinteractive exchanges, input from the user indicating an emotionalresponse to the one or more manifested behaviors of the virtualcharacter during the one or more interactive exchanges; and adjust thesecond personality associated with the virtual character according tothe indicated emotional response.
 15. The system recited in claim 11,wherein the second personality further influences one or more of avisual representation or an audible representation of the virtualcharacter during the one or more interactive exchanges.
 16. The systemrecited in claim 11, wherein the virtual character acts as a mentor or atherapist to the user during the one or more interactive exchanges. 17.The system recited in claim 11, wherein the second personalityassociated with the virtual character is determined to complement thefirst personality associated with the user.
 18. The system recited inclaim 11, wherein the second personality associated with the virtualcharacter is determined to entertain the user.
 19. The system recited inclaim 11, wherein the virtual character is an avatar that is controlledby the user in a virtual space.
 20. The system recited in claim 11,wherein the virtual character is an artificial intelligence charactercontrolled by one or more computer programs.